A Star Wars Role Playing Experience

The Lounge offers a wide variety of foods and drinks from all over the galaxy while looking on the breathtaking view of the stars above the 20-km long arrowhead hull of the Federation's most elite battleship.

Kurge had gained the wanderlust again. It had been many long centuries since that last happened. He stood aboard his YZ-900, Bloodwing 2. This ship had been his headquarters and home for quite some time. Unlike many of the other ships of the class his was more militarized. This was partially due to being a licensed mercenary for the NIF and employed by a NIF based PMC.

Inside the ship was medical, armory, holding room and other hidden surprises. The ship itself possessed many specialized systems that changed its role to more of a gunship. In addition to the myriad of countermeasure and defensive systems. The idea was be able to destroy anything he couldn't outrun and outrun what he could fight.

He walked down the pathway to the cockpit. He had put in to Luciana time for vacation. She had granted it. He had spent the last over a millennium travelling the galaxy. Following his own path or as the secret weapon of a warrior strong enough to control him. The last man that had been the latter was dead. Now he was back to following his own winds and path. He looked toward the unknown regions of space on the star chart. So much to explore and hopefully test oneself against.

The ship lifted off and left Luciana's base. The ship rapidly rose through the atmosphere and into the serene emptiness of space. The feeling of his insignificance always came back when he looked at the starfield. Some of the points of light he knew from the worlds. Others were barren of life or unable to support it. Yet it wasn't this direction that drew his interest.

Expertly he turned the ship and entered hyperspace headed for the Unknown Regions. His plan was to exit near the boundary of Chiss space. Then proceed from there. What interested him more was a cluster of anomalies that lay to the outer fringe of the galaxy. Normally mercenary type work was his thing. Yet, he was curious since occasionally he managed to find useful artifacts to study or hand over to better qualified persons.

The pseudo-gunship exited hyperspace near the edge of the Chiss space. He had stopped at one of the few independent facilities along this trade route. Unlike the larger and heavily used ones like the Hyperion Way, this one saw much less traffic. The outpost was kept up by the NIF. Specifically, he was near the Empire of the Hand territory. Which was formed by the late Grand Admiral Thrawn of the Galactic Empire under Palpatine.

Kurge was stopping here merely for a quick break and to gather any news. His plan was to head to the galactic south, towards Rakata Prime. Then west towards the western fringe of the galaxy. It would put him dangerously close to the Ssi-Ruu Imperium. However, he was aware the Chiss and Ssi-Ruu had been having border disputes. Which might lead to some opportunities for making a profit. The other reason being any artifacts from past civilizations.
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He walked into the bar. His arrival drew some attention. This wasn't uncommon out here for such a large powerful looking humanoid. He sat down at the bar and took off the helmet. The bartender walked over and asked what he wanted. "I would like a Blue Wave, double shot, also the scoop on the scope of this area."

The bartender was a human male, roughly 45 years of age. His face was weathered, framed with gray hair. His eyes were had the look of a keen man. He wore a leather apron over a coarse threaded tunic and britches. Worn hands set down an acrylic mug filled with Tavish McFini's Blue Wave. Ironic that a NIF Admiral would develop such a popular beverage.

The man answered as his slid the mug over to Kurge, "Not too much has been going on as of late. Though that isn't truly saying much at all. The word is the Ascendancy out colonies are suffering from Ssi-ruu raiding. It also seems that they aren't recovered from the beating they had. The present war between the NR and NIF is also choking a lot of the trade in this sector. Where are you headed?"

Kurge accepted the drink and sipped on it as the man talked. "I am looking for an adventure to be honest. Why do you ask?"

As a response the man, indicated four men in a corner booth. "Two of them are archeologists and the other two are anthropologists. From what I heard they are on an expedition to some ancient civilization ruins. Might be worth finding out...if you know what I mean."

Kurge thanked him as he handed back the glass. He stood up and made his way over. The four men looked up at him as he approached. "Hello, who are you and what do you want?"

"Hello, my name isn't relevant right now. I heard you are trying to make an exploratory expedition into the Unknown Regions. Have you considered your security needs?"

The one that answered seemed to be the tenured professor. "We will be just fine as we are only interested in knowledge."

Kurge smiled at the man in a understanding manner. To the younger man across from him, looked barely mid-twenties, "What are you guys flying for this? I hope it isn't just some old freighter."

The young man, introduced himself as Raz, "You might think that. But no! The YT-2400 is ours." The young man allowed Kurge to sit down with them. "Why do you ask?"

"Mere concern for your overall survival. Most ships commonly used towards the core are not well suited. The Outer Rim is very harsh on beings and equipment. I am presently out doing an exploratory mission myself. And it might be beneficial to both of us to go jointly for some of the distance." Kurge replied to the query. He knew the ship he described. It possessed a tag from the NR-Civilian. The older man didn't seem to be just a professor. It was possible there was more going here. But it could just be the nerves from the recent actions in the war putting him on edge.

The young man looked at his more senior compatriots. The oldest gentlemen nodded, "That would seem wise, for a time. We are leaving in the next hour."

"That would work perfectly for me. You can call me Franz." There is something that doesn't seem right to me. I should be cautious.Kurge smiled and shook their each of their hands in turn. Then he got up and left the pub. He made his way down the corridors till he found a relatively remote kiosk. There he looked up the ship in the docking records. Ah, so it is the Imminent Hope, YT-2400 class light freighter. He knew they would probably look his up too. Unfortunately for them, it showed as the "Emerald Lance". It was a false IDIF tag.

He made is way back to his ship. Once there he completed pre-flight checks and diagnostics. Then he took off and exited the internal hangar. Five minutes later a YT-2400 flew out. Kurge hailed it and after a quick conversation the two ship set course in the direction of Rakata Prime.

Kurge had voiced a small concern given the course. It would take them into some areas that would require maneuvering through some rogue asteroid fields. However, this was the most direct route. This would also put them at risk should any pirates or 'opportunists' be in the area. The other ship being a YT-2400 was agile, compact and powerful. The Corellian vessel was made infamous by the Alliance of Rebel Systems during the Galactic Civil War.

The bigger concern was whether the ship was adequately equipped should they have an encounter. Both ships dropped out of hyperspace at the first 'road block'. In front of them was a large rogue asteroid field. What was of interest was the rogue planet that resided past it. The planet's star had long ago collapsed into a dwarf. Now the planet followed an highly irregular orbit as a result of the reduced gravitational pull.

The rogue asteroid field had once been held in place past the planet of interest. However, the collapse of the star had resulted in the gradual expansion of the field outwards.The hard part would be making through the expanding field and then conducting operations on the planet. Preliminary scans did indicate a very high probability of once supporting life.
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Kurge maneuvered his YZ-900 towards the rogue asteroid field. To his right was the YT-2400. He deftly marked the YT-2400, Imminent Hope, as a neutral prior to entering the belt. His gut told him that there was probably more than what he was told. According to the navigational and targeting computers it would be tricky but not impossible. The course he was going to follow would weave around using the larger asteroids for cover. It would seem likely given the planet telemetry that villainous elements might be based here.

Carefully, he pitched and then rolled over the first of the asteroids. The YT was to his starboard side still. Either daring or impatience caused them to take a more direct route. The sleek modded black YZ-900 then dived under and around the next rock. Immediately he banked and made a hard port turn then around. The rock was close to the previous due to a somewhat randomized movement. The rock behaved as if of an nonstandard composition structure. Probably was a fragment from a collision that broke off.

Kurge glanced at his sensor readings the YT-2400 had adjusted course due to running into the denser ring in plane with the star's equator. Their new course would take them under it. Kurge had plotted a course over that stretch. Carefully, the YZ-900 pitched vertically as it did a control burst of its powerful engines. Below the ship an asteroid was lazily passing by. The nose dropped down toward the horizon (zero inclination). From here it was minor course corrections to move past the impassable stretch.

Imminent Hope was below Kurge. Something caught his eye. The dense ring below him had part of the original belt that was between the planet of interest and the outer terminus of the system. Within that section there were occasional detonations. Kurge focused the sensors temporarily on that area. It appeared there were ancient anti-ship mines. It appeared it was a mixture of magnetic and contact types. This made sense since ferrus alloys were used in most ancient spacecraft.

Luckily most modern spacecraft were more than just crude constructions of titanium, aluminum and ferrus-alloys. However, that didn't truly reduce the overall risk of such archaic weapons. Scans indicated the mines seemed to have two different warhead types. The magnetic mines appeared to be a focused high-explosive type. The contact from the scans were nuclear.

"Imminent Hope, be advised the mines are a mixture of conventional and nuclear magnetic and contact."

"Acknowledged. There is a dense dust cloud in your path. Sensors indicate debris within it."

Kurge cross-checked the sensor readings. It appeared the dust cloud was centered on significant debris. Yet something piqued his interest. The debris was composed of titanium-aluminum and some ferrus alloys. In addition, the metals all exhibited the form of oxidation and corrosion common to ancient weapons damage. It appeared that there was a destroyed ancient vessel here.
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Kurge carefully entered the dust cloud and flew to the large wreck in the center. After a few minutes of careful maneuvering around various bits and pieces he came to the main hull. Around it floated destroyed weapon turrets pieces of metal, wire and other odds and ends. In front of the cockpit floated what remained of a crewmen in a crude pressure suit. The individual was bipedal humanoid.

He then started scanning the wreck. It appeared the hull had ruptured in large gashes in several locations. What would of been the engines were destroyed and the powerplant area had a large rupture. This indicated a terminal strike of some kind. The other large gashes followed expectations for a terminal rupture starting in the reactor room.

The control room appeared to have been sealed with some form of bulkhead doors. It had lost atmosphere but sensors indicated it was relatively intact. The hull was a cylindrical profile common to ancient rocket-based craft. The nose was abnormally heavily plated with a reinforced structure. Almost as if to sustain heavy fire or impact. The engine and reactor sections accounted for approximately half the structure. The forward half had some turreted and other fixed weaponry points. A few of the turrets that had blown off indicated projectile weaponry. Detailed scans showed the fixed were missile tubes. The bridge was located near the bow but protected from incoming fire with sliding armor plating. It appeared the protective plating had been partially blown off its guides.

Overall it was a fascinating piece of ancient hardware and ingenuity. The real question was if Kurge could reconnoiter it.

Kurge moved his freighter in closer to the bridge. It appeared that there was an access hatch near to the bridge. Though it would put him on the wrong side of the blast doors. The other option worth considering was accessing the bridge through structural weaknesses caused by the damage to the armor blinds. The starboard side one in particular had sustained heavy damage.

Kurge moved his ship close to the wreck. Size estimates put the wreck at approximately five-hundred meters in length. Of which half was taken by engines and reactor systems. Carefully his ship touched down on the outer hull by the remains of the bridge. Flicking a switch claws of the landing struts locked onto the hull. Kurge then put on his full and sealed armor. He exited the airlock of his ship and gently touched down on the wreck's hull. He immediately engaged the mag-locks of his boots. Carefully, he walked to the edge of the viewspace of the bridge.

He peered inside. What he saw was somewhat startling to him. The bridge crew were all dead. Yet it appeared that in their final moments unbridled aggression lead them to attack each other. He used his hand scanner to see if any trace elements remained. None were detected from here. After double-checking the full-body seal of his armor he proceeded to the structural fatigue identified earlier.

The small hand-held cutting torch cut through the weakened alloy plate. Carefully he picked up the cut piece and sent it away from him and his ship. This brought the damage structural ribs into view. Most were bent or fractured. Cautiously Kurge cut his man-sized hole to intersect with the maintenance space between the inner and outer hulls. He then crawled into the hole and positioned himself right above the bridge. Again he scanned for trace elements. He got token indications of radiation. However, it was nearly negligible.

Again he used the cutter to through. Once clear he dropped down into the bridge. Once in he surveyed his surroundings. There were twenty crew sprawled dead over the flooring and consoles. Around were archaic hand weapons. It wasn't clear when he looked earlier. But there were two different groups. Thirteen of the bodies' had uniforms with insignia matching the seal on the back wall, floor and engraved in the consoles. The other seven had a different style of uniform and insignia. Slowly it was starting to make sense.

He walked over to one of the 'defenders'. Slowly and carefully, Kurge rolled the body over to be face up. The being was a near-human or humanoid species. He didn't immediately recognize it. The loss of air had preserved the bodies of those that died in remarkably good condition. This being was shot then stabbed with a dagger. About a meter away was one of the 'aggressors'. The body profile appeared to be female. He turned his attention back to the first. He carefully started to search the uniform for some kind of identification or clue to who they were. Finding nothing but a photo-ID in a unknown language he moved to the next body. This time he went to the woman. When he turned her over it was clear she didn't suffer any obvious lethal injuries but rather died of asphyxiation. It was not entirely clear due to skin discoloration if strangled or she died due to loss of life support. Again he carefully searched the uniform but found absolutely nothing of help. Her ID was similar in make to the other in terms of technology.

Kurge stood and looked over the control room. It wasn't apparent before but the consoles had all sustained damage. He picked up and looked at one of the weapons. To his surprise it was a form of contained chemical-reaction projectile weapon. Similar to some of the really primitive weapons still found in the galaxy. The bore of the sidearms he found seem to be approximately 9-10mm. This would put them in the mid of the possible size range. He carefully located and operated the magazine catch. This revealed some significant design differences. The 'defender' had a less complex but lower capacity single-stack magazines with approximately nine metallic cartridges. The attacker on the other hand used a rudimentary double stack spring magazine. Inspection revealed witness holes in the sides and using one with rounds still present he quickly determined an eighteen round capacity.

Intrigued he looked over each piece in more detail. The crew's gun was a direct-blowback semiautomatic. The boarders' weapons were direct-blowback but clearly a full-automatic design. Inspecting the spring strengths showed the latter had a stronger spring that would reduce fire-rate. This indicated that the gun would of been more controllable than originally supposed. The blades that littered the floor around some of the bodies were of two types. The attackers appeared to be using daggers. The blades on the daggers were broad at the base and narrowed uniformly to a needle point. The defender's had what would be best described as short swords similar to ancient maritime cutlasses. The blade broadened near the tip and narrower to the shell hilt. The tips of the cutlasses were cut in a slanted manner towards the edge. Both edges of the clipped point were sharpened. It was a brutal but highly effective design to provide options with the edge and point.

Slowly he made his way through each of the bodies. At last he found the one that obviously was the captain. Underneath him was a locked case. Beside him was a console with his hand on a red button, presumably for a forced depressurization. The majority of the crew were sprawled around him and that console. As if they were protecting him, the console or the case. He lifted the body up and let it slump to the cold metal deck plates. He lifted the case and looked it over. The lock was keyed. It was similar to some of the "black box" designs he had seen used in the ancient periods of spaceflight. Bending over he looked for the key on the deceased captain and found it easily on a lanyard around his neck. Using the key he cautiously open the case. Inside of it was a small black data-storage device. Beside that was what appeared to be a smaller device presumably with ship or mission details.

Kurge closed the case and let the latches engage. He then stowed the key. He turned his attention to the console. A cursory check confirmed that the emergency battery system had long since run dry. Turning back to his entrance point. He paused. He then walked back over to each of the bodies. Slowly and solemnly he rolled each over and placed their arms by their sides where they had fallen. Where he could he closed their eyes that remained open in death. Then he turned back to his entry point. He crawled back through the maintenance crawlspace and out onto the outer hull. Within a couple minutes he was back safely in his ship.

He sat in his cockpit. In his hands was the data devices from the derelict. He jury rigged a connection to an isolated computer system. He then set it to decipher and extract the data. Once done with that he detached and made his way out of the dust cloud and debris field around the derelict.

His sensors picked up the YT-2400 and it was not far off. His ship was running in its low-observable mode. Imminent Hope was conducting scans and attempting to make contact via coms. Kurge opened up the engine baffles and responded. He conveyed that there was a derelict and what he had found. He also indicated that he found a data storage device. But as of yet hadn't gotten any results from the analysis. The older man's voice was terse and said that they should hurry toward the planet. He was tired of waiting and it had already been an hour since contact had been lost.

Kurge was starting to get the feeling that these people were up to something shady. He told them to go ahead to the planet. That he needed to run a diagnostic due to the significant dust concentration. The other ship turned and quickly sped in the direction of the planet. Meanwhile Kurge waited till he was sure they were not able to intercept his signal. He sent a beam transmission to Luciana Eindavin with the data. This way if something happened the possibly valuable data would still be in NIF hands.

Just as he started towards the planet, the computer displayed the results. The derelict was an ancient battleship of a near-human species. The name translated roughly to the "Domination". From the data that had been deciphered it indicated the ship was in fact of human construction. The overall timeframe would put it shortly prior to Xim the Despot. The ship technologically seemed to have been either a state-of-the-art or prototype design. He would have to wait and see if anything else was found within the devices. In the meantime, he need to get to the planet and determine what the others were truly up to.
_____________________________________________________________Bloodwing 2 flew towards the planet. The ship changed course slightly towards the larger of the two moons. Kurge set the ship down on a stable rock outcrop. The moon itself was cratered from asteroids. However, there were some craters that indicated weapon fire. It seemed the moon had once had a defense installation. It was long since gone. The reason he landed here was to get a better read of the situation.

With Bloodwing 2 landed, Kurge quickly got finished gearing up and disembarked. After exiting he placed the ship into lockdown and proceeded toward the edge of the outcrop. Below him would be the YT-2400. Kurge went prone and carefully crept forward till he could peer over the edge. Down below he saw them working on placing scanning equipment.

Increasing his helmet's magnification for his left eye, he recognized the model. They were placing a Fabritech 7000 Geoscanner. This was a relatively expensive piece of equipment. The low-end MSRP for one was approximately five-thousand credits. He watched the younger male engage the controls and the scanner's repulsor reduced power till on the surface. The pair then started the calibration sequence. Generally, this type of equipment has presets for locating ores, minerals, underground features or even hazardous events.

He doubted they were aware he was observing them. When he had set down his scanners had already indicated they were disembarked. Unless something occurred and his position became compromised the powered down state of his ship would be unlikely to be detected either. The placement of the geoscanner indicated they were attempting to locate any remnants of structures. Centuries of experience would indicate a high likelihood of a subterranean complex. The evidence from the combat indicated a siege of some sort was enacted. Furthermore, the evidence he had gleaned from the derelict indicated a high-risk mission. The warship was from the period of Xim the Despot. However, it was no guarantee that this archeological find had anything to do with the infamous tyrant.

Far more concerning was the scans of the debris field. It wasn't entirely consistent with the original theory. There were also several composite fragments that were clearly of a different nature. This would indicate that whatever the fight was over it wasn't beam tubes. It would seem that it was over something far more valuable. What was just as concerning was the two individuals down below him. The ship they flew was a well kept YT-2400, with NR ID. The older gentleman clearly was in charge and seemed to be looking for something specific. The younger man clearly wasn't an archeologist. His manipulations of the equipment were not as effortless as they should of been. The other flag was the carbine in a small of the back holster. It seemed more likely he was private security or part of some NR aligned paramilitary.

Kurge carefully slid back from the edge and stealthily made his way back to the ship. Once aboard he established a secure holonet connection to NIF public databases. He then started running a search for all publicly known paramilitary member matching the young man's appearance. As well as, a search of academic persons within New Republic universities for the old man. He then sat back and waited for the results. Surprisingly, the wait wasn't too long. The young man was a known member of a radical NR aligned paramilitary cell. In fact, it would seem to be a response to the trial of that Bothan admiral. The older man didn't show as faculty with any of the major universities. Kurge then expanded the search for all universities. Annoyingly there was limited information that showed. It appeared that he had spent some time at a university, as an exchange professor, on Bothawui. However, it was data from thirty years ago when the man was clearly in his mid to late thirties.

Kurge leaned back in his chair. He quickly mused over what to might be the missing link. It came to him in, the issue wasn't who it was how. Kurge redefined the search for less than reputable terminations. Sure enough, he got an article with the man being indicted for violation of academic protocols related to archeological discoveries. A quick read revealed that he had turned to illicit treasure hunting and selling of artifacts on the black market. He then placed both people's information side by side on the display. A young man with hardline anti-NIF ideology and an ex-professor who turned to 'grave robbing'. It seemed that they were looking for something that would likely help with one of those implied goals.

Using the secure connection he sent a call out to his buddy Fritz. This might be a situation that could be turned to their advantage. They needed a remote and well hidden base of operations. One where they could pursue some of their goals from. Hopefully his reinforcement would arrive in a timely fashion. Till then, Kurge started planning how to first determine what they were up to. Then hijack it to his own benefit. As far as he was concerned the two would need to be killed. No point in leaving a witness.

Manfred relaxed comfortably at home. His wife was inside working on the evening meal. His kids were outside in the courtyard of the villa. Whereas he was out in his workshop working on a project. The comm in the workshop pinged to indicate a message. Manfred or as his friends and family called him, Fritz, reviewed the message. He wasn't surprised to hear from Kurge. Though it had been quite some time. The two had a lot in common despite their massive age difference. Kurge was an ancient and somewhat cryptic Gen'Dai. The only one known to have connections and allegiance to Mando'a. Manfred was going into his late thirties, Ragithian human male. His wife was an Epicanthix who had grown up on Mandalore.

Fritz turned back to the project he had been working on while he thought about the message. So it seemed the Kurge was finally moving forward with the plan. His hands deftly tweaked the power couplings in the LD-1 blaster rifle he was working on. He knew the client would want to pick it up tomorrow. The question really was if the galaxy was ready for the re-emergence of the true Mando'a way. The biggest hurdle was the political climate here at home on Mandalore. Mandalore had lost its martial roots. Immigration that refused to integrate was a big part of that. The largest influx was during the Clone Wars by refugees. These refuges refused to become Mando'a but kept their own culture's. The result was a concentration of these "new mandalorians" in the city centers. Whereas the traditionalists like Fritz had retreated to the more rural areas.

Fritz focused on the rifle on his workbench. He had deftly reconfigured the power couplings and needed to reassemble the weapon. The owner wanted to get more lethality out of it. Carefully, the components were put together and housing reassembled. When finished the LD-1 lay on the workbench. His client was a big game hunter. He had been referred to Fritz to have the barrel and focusing array reconfigured to produce a much more lethal over-focused bolt. The man had asked for X-45 like performance. Fritz took the reconfigured LD-1 to the range and fired it at the test target. He smiled as it worked as intended. He then boxed it up and arranged for pick up by the client.

Fritz then turned back to the comm and acknowledged the message in the affirmative. He then sent a coded message to the small cell he and Kurge had been building up.

Kurge started the slow and tedious process of observing and analyzing the targets. It was in their best interest to have the possible fight over in an instant. To this end Kurge figured on using heavy firepower. In his case that would mean utilizing a WESTAR M5 Blaster Rifle, dual DC15S blasters and auxiliary equipment. He suspected from what he had seen a coordinated and precision strike could neutralize them. Then they could proceed with their own investigation. If nothing of worth was found then at least they could add a ship to their small strike force of True Mandalorian Protectors.

Kurge settled down mostly covered by the dust and dirt to keep watch. His signature would be masked by the surrounding debris. Which would help defuse the thermal signature. In addition to that carefully applied camo paint would help breakup the silhouette of his armor. In addition, he picked a spot with some small rocks littered around. This would further help disguise the outline of his presence.

Their armaments are relatively heavy for an explorative archaeological team. Besides the heavy laser cannons on their ship which could be utilize. There are a surprisingly significant amount of small arms. There are two A280 Blaster rifles that they have leaned against those supply crates. In addition to that the each had a Blastech DL-22 Blaster pistol in holsters at their thighs. The most interesting aspect was their use of blast armor. Medium grade armor that generally was on the market for about six-thousand credits. It seemed they were relatively well funded. This still leaves a mystery of who funded this excursion...